Serious change

Coen film allows characters to rail against their dark, dour world | Sam Thielman

Focus Features

Even though you can't figure anything out, you will be responsible for it on the mid-term" cautions physics professor Larry Gopnik (an amazing Michael Stuhlbarg) in the Coen brothers' new movie A Serious Man. And that's Larry's problem, too.

His wife Judith is having an affair with their friend Sy Abelman (Fred Melamed), and she wants a Gett (a ritual divorce) so that she can be with, yes, a more serious man. His tenure may be jeopardized by anonymous letters sent to the committee, trashing him. His daughter is saving the money she steals from his wallet to get a nose job. His tempting neighbor (Amy Landecker) sunbathes nude, where he can see her, like David, from the roof of his house. What's a devout Jewish man to do?

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